Page 89 - BBC Music (January 2020)

Instrumental Reviews

show some awareness of this, but with great spirit. Nor is he afraid
nothing is disclosed in the brief ‘The to add touches of individuality,
Organ: My Story’ that replaces any lingering a little at key points in
programme note in this new release. the more lyrical undulations of the
Nor is there much shape to the 11th piece. The very close recording
mélange of (mostly) recital staples creates a great sense of presence,
played by the Korean organist Jae- but also magnifies the few strained
Hyuck Cho, who begins – where passages. Nonetheless, Spruill is an
else? – with Bach’s Toccata and engaging and convincing advocate.
Fugue in D minor, treating it to Christopher Dingle
an old-fashioned performance in PERFORMANCE HHH
which rhythmic instability makes RECORDING HHH
the Fugue sound rushed.
Widor inevitably means the Rippe
ubiquitous Toccata, given an over- Fantasias and intabulations of
enthusiastic workout; unusually, it vocal pieces and dances
also means one of the movements Paul O’Dette (lute)
from his seldom-heard Bach’s Harmonia Mundi HMM 902275
Memento (No. 5, the Sicilienne). 75:56 mins
Liszt, no less predictably, means Court lutenist
the Fantasy and Fugue on BACH, of François I in
Bach with bite:
where the turbulence turns muddy, the first half of
Kei Koito shows
and although Cho does show a colour and clarity the 16th century,
temperamental affinity for the Albert de Rippe
composer in the Fantasy and Fugue was a musical
on ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’ his innovator and hugely renowned in
accomplished and virtuosic playing movement there are questioning in 1993 for a fashion show by his lifetime. Before he died – kidney
still doesn’t put this version near upbeats; beneath the pretty surface Yohji Yamamoto. The only other stones, we are told – in 1551, his
many other accounts of the work. of the mercurial Rondo Biss draws recording, by Alexander Balanescu, supreme skill had acquired him
The recording at least introduces out what he describes as a ‘festival only had a limited release, so this land, wealth and an apparent total
a specially-commissioned piece, of questions’. And he invests the spritely new version from Chase artistic control over his output,
Pahdo, in which the composer strangely sighing fifths which open Spruill is the first to be widely resulting in only three works being
Texu Kim makes good use of the No. 18 with a diffident tenderness, available. It is a pity, then, that the published in his lifetime. The
Madeleine instrument to produce going on to progressively darken simple cardboard sleeve contains no remainder, filling six books, were
beautiful washes of sound and the mood and colouring. All the information whatsoever about the published posthumously by his
incorporates traditional Korean effects are delicately calibrated, and piece beyond its name. student Guillaume Morlaye.
melodies to evoke the ‘ocean wave’ the pedalling is very discreet; the The music will be familiar A selection of these complex,
of its title. John Allison Scherzo is thrilling in its airborne to anyone who knows Nyman’s ornamented and virtuosic works,
PERFORMANCE HH weightlessness, the Menuetto has String Quartet No. 4, as it was used from his intricate and rich Fantasias
RECORDING HHH ineffable grace. in its entirety as the first violin to his popular intabulations of vocal
Biss’s analysis of Op. 111 is part. As usual with Nyman, short pieces – you can hear the choral
Beethoven provocative yet persuasive. ideas are repeated, varied and effect in his innovative multi-

Piano Sonatas Nos 7, 18 & 32 Discussing what he regards as its developed in his own engaging stranded chords – are presented here
Jonathan Biss (piano) inability to end, he suggests that its brand of minimalism, with neither by American lutenist Paul O’Dette,
Orchid Classics ORC 100109 67:56 mins subtext is both the desire to live for the individual movements nor who makes abundant sense of de
This album ever, and the impossibility of doing the work as a whole outstaying Rippe’s complexities. Interspersed,
concludes so, with its final bars representing its welcome. Spruill’s energetic and lightening the mood somewhat,
Jonathan ‘a heartbeat that simply stops’. approach is well-suited to the are a number of pavanes and
Biss’s recorded His performance – smooth and prevalence of motoric movements galliards by anonymous ‘bons
cycle, and it’s exquisitely expressive when it soars
exceptionally into the empyrean – conveys exactly
felicitous. Having devoted most of that. Michael Church
his energies to Beethoven over the PERFORMANCE HHHHH BACKGROUND TO…
last ten years – writing and talking RECORDING HHHHH Michael Nyman (b1944)
as much as playing – he’s carved out
a niche as the leading interpreter of Michael Nyman So much more than a composer, Michael
the sonatas. Yamamoto Perpetuo Nyman is also a performer, conductor,
The sonatas he’s chosen to Chase Spruill (violin) librettist and filmmaker. One of the fathers
of minimalism, his musical style truly set him
juxtapose are each the last of a set Supertrain Records STR 008 40:08 mins
of three; each, he argues, represents A welcome yet apart in the 1970s. His Michael Nyman Band,
a culmination, and through the frustrating established in 1977, continues to tour the world
questions they raise, they reflect the release. Yamamoto and Nyman himself has become something
composer’s vulnerability as much as Perpetuo is a of an icon whom other artists have clamoured
his strength. No. 7 may begin with 12-movement to work with. His composing output is vast, comprising chamber works,
a Presto which hurtles ahead – on work for solo opera, songs and film scores. A fruitful collaboration with the director
the page so bare-looking, but here violin lasting about 40 minutes, Peter Greenaway brought about some of his most familiar works.
so rich in texture – but even in this initially written by Michael Nyman

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 91